GazW Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Found out the hard way the heated grips on my bike are hard wired directly to the battery. By that, I came back from work to realise I'd left them on all day and drained the battery, luckily I was on a hill. Is there any way to re wire them through the ignition switch so they come on with the key? Mk1 bandit 600 and the ignition is connected to the loom via a block connecter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megawatt Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Yep, wire em via a relay connected to a feed from the ignition, ie if the ignition is off, the feed is off and no flat battery. Haven't got a diagram , but someone on here will have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 a lot of people wire it through the rear lights so the relay is switched on with the lights on A 4 or 5 pin will work just dont use the middle pin on the 5 pin http://www.all-neon-car-lights.com/images/relay-diagram.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazW Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Strange Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Take a feed from the wire from the ignition switch, it runs into the fusebox under the seat. Depending on year, it'll either be orange (should be on yours) or orange/red on the later bikes (i think these are k1/2? models). That way you can have your grips on without having to put the lights on too.I'd use a positap for the relay's switched feed from the ignition : http://www.posi-lock.com/posiplug.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 That way you can have your grips on without having to put the lights on too. The point of doing it to the lights is to make sure your lights are on all the time too as a safety feature Always ride with lights on for added visibility its hard enough to be seen as it is Plus its really easy to tap into the rear lights without removing any fairing its usually just rear seat removal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissb6 Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 That way you can have your grips on without having to put the lights on too. The point of doing it to the lights is to make sure your lights are on all the time too as a safety feature Always ride with lights on for added visibility its hard enough to be seen as it is Plus its really easy to tap into the rear lights without removing any fairing its usually just rear seat removal That makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Strange Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) If the back light bulb blew, then you may not be able to use your grips, hopefully you will have a sufficient earth through the relay (unless you carry a spare bulb all the time to be 100% safe) - which might happen on a nice, sunny winter's day when it's probably rather cold! Edited February 12, 2014 by Matt Strange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeman Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 If the back light bulb blew, then you may not be able to use your grips, it hopefully will earth through the relay (unless you carry a spare all the time) - on a nice, sunny winter's day when it might be cold! How do you figure that out??Power to the bulb doesn't just stop when the bulb blows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Strange Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 edited post to include info. I should add that if the light fuse pops then that will definitely stop them working, no lights but still it's obviously perfectly o.k. to ride the bike during daytime - not everyone has spare fuses handy at an inconvenient moment. If you wire to the ignition then only an ignition circuit problem will stop the grips working (bar faults in the grip circuit).If you wire through the lights, then you add another circuit which could go potentially wrong, stopping the rider from using heated grips in the cold, during the daytime - keeping it simple is better imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Strange Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 How do you figure that out??Power to the bulb doesn't just stop when the bulb blows I should answer you properly really.It's rare but a bulb can short internally, the bulb won't light up but there is higher than normal current flow through the circuit. A relay doesn't need much to operate, usually only a few hundred milliamps, but the short might draw enough power to stop the relay from switching & still not blow the light circuit fuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissb6 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 All electrical circuits have the potential to fault, hence there's a fuse box to protect the wiring and the components. For the heated grips to work off a relay via the rear light you require a supply from 2 sources, a direct supply to energise the relay switch on and off from the rear lights being switch on and off, this relay - contactor uses little to nothing power wise. Secondly a power supply direct from the battery via a fuse is switch by the relay to supply the heated grips. The relay- contactor coil is wired in parallel with the rear light. So even if the lamp blows the relay will still work, if the fuse blows, the then the relay will not energise and the grips won't work. As Stu say's, it's a good way of keeping you safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Strange Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Of course all circuits have to potential to develop faults but why increase the potential of failure to two circuits, instead of reducing it to only the one by wiring directly through a switched ignition source? If the rear light doesn't work because the fuse has gone or there's a short, then neither do the grips which sounds daft to me as I'd rather be able to ride my bike during daylight hours & still have the option to use them (should either issue happen).The relay is wired in parallel so yeah, it should be o.k. if just the bulb blows as they normally do, but I did explain myself better in my last post before this one with regards to a internal bulb short potentially stopping the relay from energising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissb6 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Most ignition circuits run a 10amp fuse, this runs the ignition and engine management circuits, headlights and indicators. As a rule the heated grips will pull anything up to 5amps when on full depending on the make. If you connect your heated grips direct the ignition circuit without a relay - contactor your running the risk of blowing the ignition fuse when everything is switched on. if this fuse blows you be going nowhere. Hence best to use a relay-contactor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Strange Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Not if you take the relay feed directly from the ignition switch (a wire coloured orange, which runs directly to fusebox under the seat on a bandit), that will be fed from the 30 amp main fuse like on just about every bike I can think of?.All fused circuits in the fusebox are fed from the main fuse, so tapping into it directly isn't going to add additional load any more than it would than getting a relay feed from any of the other circuits in the main fusebox.You can see the red wire coming from the main fuse & the orange wire (coming from the switch and supplies the fusebox) that is only live when the ignition key is turned in the above diagram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogof Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 It's rare but a bulb can short internally, Erm... if a bulb is NOT short circuit, it ain't gonna work as intended.Just saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissb6 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 It's rare but a bulb can short internally, Erm... if a bulb is NOT short circuit, it ain't gonna work as intended.Just saying A bulb has a filament which is a resistor, a short has no or very little resistance and can blow the fuse. l have had the odd bulb that has blown and shorted out a circuit. More so on the house lights than on the bike or car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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